Thursday, January 19, 2012

CHA-ah!

In case you don't know what CHA is I will cut and paste a little snippet that explains, straight from their website...CHA is an international not-for-profit trade association consisting of thousands of member companies engaged in design, manufacture, distribution and retail sale of craft and creative products.

Basically this is a fancy way of saying that it puts crafters and creative people and the companies that facilitate this crafting and creating all in the same place at the same time. I am equating it to the Comic Con for crafters (even though I have never actually attended a CHA...I will get to that later). You may of heard of it before simply by following some manufacturers blogs. Typically the couple of weeks before the shows (held twice a year) they will do a "sneak peak," or "reveal," of new product lines (and I am sure, like me, you have drooled over these things and thought, "why can't I have that now?!"). CHA is where it can all be seen live and in person for the first time....but is not yet available for purchase. (This may just both torture me and save my bank account from taking a huge hit.)

Ok. So. Like I said, I've never been to a CHA before. In fact I only heard about it for the first time last year. That's not slowing me down any. Since I am really serious about turning my passion for scrapbooking and photo taking into a career it seems like the perfect fit for me. I applied to be a designer and participate in the designer showcase. I was accepted! (Woo hoo! First step!) The designer showcase is a way for people like me to put their work and name out there to all of those who attend the show and have a need to seek out designers for whatever reason.

I have to admit I do feel like I am in waaaay over my head. Because I have never set food on the CHA floor I feel like I have NO idea what to expect. I have so many questions about how to maximize my time as a designer at this event. I am determined to make a good showing and take it all in. But I am not going to lie ....it.is. intimidating.

Over the next 2 weeks I will be: gathering all of my best work to create a portfolio to have in my showcase booth....creatomg fun decoration elements for the booth....a bio...outfits so that I can look like someone you'd want to hire (important, right?)...and business cards.....hunting down a mentor so that I can get some of these q&a's out of the way... PHEW! I have so much to do!....ok. it's gonna, be ok.....It's gonna be great....(Sorry, talking to myself for a second there.) :)

So, enough blathering...really I wanted to blog today to tell you what is coming up and show you what I've been working on...Of course when I realized I would need official business cards (it's about time, really) I wanted something unique. Something that will stand out...hopefully make people remember me and my booth.

So this is what I am working on...

Round one...

Shipping tags (an element often used in the scrap industry) splattered with ink (a big trend right now)...

Round two...

A custom stamp with my important info on it. (Stamps are a staple in this community)

Rounds Three and Four...

Adding Washi tape (a HUGE trend right now, I noticed a lot of manufacturers are releasing several tapes this season) and Baker's Twine (Love the look and texture when it's bundled like that).